GamesNET

GamesNET is an Internet Relay Chat network devoted to the Internet gaming community. The network is for multi-player games played over the Internet, including MMORPGs (Massively Multi-play Online RolePlaying Games) such as EverQuest, and First Person Shooters (FPS) such as Team Fortress Classic and Counter-Strike.

In April 2003, Donald Wasylyna filed a U.S. Federal lawsuit against the individuals whom hijacked the GamesNET domain and it's services userbase. The defendants counter-sued for declaratory judgment and alleged defamation. The case settled, with the return of the domain name as well as US$20,000 awarded to Wasylyna. The coutnerclaim was dropped with no associated award nor settlement.

Upon settlement, the defendants quickly created the GameSurge network which was announced as a collaboration with the ProGamePlayer Network. This seemed an effort to confuse the userbase prior to the return of the domain name. Just prior to the domain name return, the defendants also black-holed the GamesNET services for a period of 30 days. The combination of the announcement and services black-hole seemed a successful method to hijack the userbase.

It is important to note that Donald Wasylyna was not involved with GamesNET for in excess of two years prior to the lawsuit, nor was he part of the administration in any capacity. The administration, staff, servers, channels, and users that'd comprised GamesNET for several years continued with essentially no modification after becoming GameSurge.

The following is a list of defendants and counterclaim-plaintiffs named in the suit: D. Seth "hunnr" Hunter, R. Brenton "def" Strickler, Gavin M. "Cradly" Roy, Jeff E. "Jaden" Perales, Jennifer Locicero, Michael "Entrope" Poole, and James "Grendel" Thomason.

GamesNET Services

GamesNET is currently developing its own set of custom open source IRC services, termed Ecks Services. Services included in Ecks Services are: SrvChan, SrvAuth, SrvOper, and SrvHelp. Plans for a SrvCast service are underway.